


Prodigal

by fortunata13



Category: Legend of the Seeker
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-23
Updated: 2012-12-23
Packaged: 2017-11-22 03:23:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/605288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fortunata13/pseuds/fortunata13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Modern AU in which Cara and Kahlan are in love, have lots of sex, and aren't very honest with each other. I'd also like to add that Kahlan is a very good girlfriend –– it's not like she shot Cara on purpose. Expect some twist and turns, LOLs, and a bit of angst.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Prodigal

**Author's Note:**

> Time changes are denoted by location.

_Kahlan’s Apartment –– present day_

  
It’s late into the night when she hears it, a loud thump followed by a muffled hiss. In one fluid motion she slips into her robe, picks up her gun, and walks out of the bedroom. Aside from the flicker of streetlights pouring in through the balcony, the apartment is completely dark. Her senses, however, are as sharp as ever and she can feel, if not see, that someone is in the room.  
  
With her back pressed against the wall, she flips a switch, flooding the room with a warm orange glow, and without missing a beat, steps out from her hiding place ready to do away with her would-be assailant.  
  
“Now what kind of a way to greet an old friend is that?”  
  
“Cara,” Kahlan says with a sigh. “Spirits, I could have killed you this time.” She puts the gun down on the coffee table and closes the space between them –– her heart still hammering against her ribcage. “What do you want?” Her eyes dart over to the bedroom door for a moment then back to her unexpected guest.  
  
“Nice to see you, too.” Cara tugs at the collar of Kahlan’s robe, drawing her in so that their bodies are pressed together. When Cara buries her face in her hair, Kahlan looses a tiny whimper and closes her eyes. “Do you have any idea how much I’ve missed the way you smell?”  
  
“Cara, don’t,” Kahlan says, as one of her hands finds purchase on Cara’s hip –– and stays there. Cara’s fingers are already tangled in Kahlan’s hair and her lips are making their way down to her clavicle, kissing Kahlan with more gentleness than she can bear. Her eyes dart to the bedroom door again but with her robe slipping off her shoulders, and Cara’s hands gliding up to her breasts, she can’t seem to remember why it’s important. Instead, she arches into Cara’s touch making those little noises that only Cara can coax out of her. “I’ve missed you so much,” Kahlan breathes into her ear, allowing her robe to fall to the floor while she guides one of Cara’s hands between her thighs.  
  
She’s already wet and the delicious circular motion of Cara’s fingers against her clit has her knees buckling. “Fuck, Cara, don’t stop. More, please.”  
  
Cara has that confident smirk on her face and that glint in her eyes, as she drops to her knees between Kahlan’s thighs. It isn’t long before one of Kahlan’s legs is draped over Cara’s shoulder as she feasts on Kahlan’s copious arousal. Something about the bedroom door crosses Kahlan’s mind for a fraction of a second but when Cara’s fingers join her prodigious tongue, she’s too busy grinding herself against Cara’s face to think about anything at all. Cara is supporting Kahlan’s weight with a strong arm around her waist –– already she can feel how close she is. Kahlan throws her head back on the brink of ecstasy only to have that perfect moment shattered by a familiar voice.     
  
“What the hell?”  
  
And that’s when Kahlan remembers what kept drawing her attention to the bedroom door. “Richard,” she says, more to herself than to him.  
  
Cara pulls away and rises to her feet, almost causing Kahlan to topple over. “Kahlan, what the fuck is he doing here?” Both of Cara’s hands ball into fists as her eyes dart between Kahlan, who’s scrambling to pick up her robe, and a very naked Richard.  
  
“What am I doing here? You’re the one who has no business being here. Get ––”  
  
“Stop,” Kahlan says, knowing that things are about to get ugly –– or uglier.  
  
Cara shakes her head and picks up the bag she’d left behind the sofa. “I’m out of here,” she growls.  
  
“Good,” Richard chimes in.  
  
“Richard, stop talking, get dressed, and get out. Now.” He starts to say something but she gives him that look that always makes him feel like he’s about to wet his pants.  
  
“You, don’t move,” she says to Cara, noticing she was turning toward the door. Cara glares at her and starts to leave anyway but when Kahlan reaches for her gun, Cara rolls her eyes and stands perfectly still. She’s pretty sure Kahlan won’t kill her, but she has shot her before so she decides to err on the side of caution.  
  
Richard stalks out of the bedroom with the intention of making a dramatic exit but with his fly open and his t-shirt turned inside out, the effect is totally ruined –– not to mention a serious case of bed-hair. He opens his mouth ever so slightly but Kahlan gives him that look again, and out the door he goes.  
  
Cara sits on the floor, leaning against the living room wall –– looking every bit like the injured party –– waiting for Kahlan to say something, not that there is anything she can say, as far as Cara’s concerned.  
  
Kahlan knows she doesn’t owe Cara an explanation for sleeping with Richard but she also knows she’s going to give her one anyway. Kahlan always feels the need to explain herself when she feels guilty, even if it is misplaced guilt. She’s also hoping Cara will finish what she started before Richard killed the mood.  
  
“May I?” she asks, looking at the empty spot on the floor next to Cara. She purses her lips in tacit assent. Kahlan slides down the wall and, without asking, allows her head to rest on Cara’s shoulder. “You left,” she says, after several minutes of silence. “We had these six amazing months together, Cara. You swept me off my feet and then you didn’t call, you didn’t text, nothing. It’s been almost a year. What was I supposed to think?”  Her voice is starting to break a bit but Cara still won’t look at her. “I fell in love with you and you broke my heart.”  
  
“I did what you asked me to do,” Cara says at length, drawing her knees to her chest. “After you shot me, you said I should leave and not come back until I wasn’t a criminal anymore.”  
  
“I didn’t mean it like that!” Kahlan says, throwing her arms up in frustration. “Forgive me for being upset about shooting my girlfriend as she fled the scene of a crime; silly me for being so sentimental.”  
  
“It wasn’t that big a deal, but you were so angry at me.” Cara lowers her head so that it rests on her knees and stays that way for a long moment. Kahlan can’t resist the urge to run her fingers through Cara’s hair and kiss her on the temple.  
  
“Don’t,” Cara says, pulling away from her and rising to her feet. “You’ve obviously moved on so I’ll be going now.” Kahlan knows it isn’t fair but she resents Richard for interrupting what was sure to be the best orgasm she’s had since, well, the last time Cara got her off.  
  
She tugs at Cara’s arm until she sits back down. “Stay, please.” And Cara hates that she still can’t say no to Kahlan. “I was hurt and lonely. I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.” She nuzzles herself into Cara’s shoulder and drapes her legs over Cara’s lap. And Cara hates that as angry as she is, Kahlan still turns her on. “Can’t we just start over?” It doesn’t help that she can still smell Kahlan’s arousal which turns her on even more, but it also reminds her she had Richard’s sloppy seconds which makes her furious.  
  
“This was a mistake,” she says, “I should go.”  
  
“No, you should stay. You should let this go, just like I’m letting go the small matter of you not bothering to call me for months, and you should stay.” She kisses Cara on the lips, but she doesn’t kiss back, so Kahlan kisses her some more and some more after that until she finally feels Cara’s hand on her hip. “And we should have really hot make-up sex. That’s what we should do.” She’s doing that thing with her lashes, and leaning in so that her boob is pressed against Cara’s arm. She seals the deal by parting her knees just enough to remind Cara what she’ll be missing if she leaves.  
  
“Don’t think for one second that I don’t know what you’re doing,” she says, just before Kahlan tucks her head to swirl her tongue on the top of Cara’s breast. Cara feels it right between her thighs; all bets are off after that.  
  
As if by powerful magic, Kahlan is suddenly flat on her back with her legs slung over Cara’s shoulders. Nothing in all of creation can possibly feel as good as Cara’s tongue inside her. Kahlan is working furiously at her own nipples, feeling herself on the verge of exploding into Cara’s mouth, and that’s exactly what happens when two of Cara’s fingers start rubbing quick circles on her swollen clit.  
  
She comes bucking into Cara’s mouth, and apparently finding religion as she invokes the Spirits and the Creator and even the Keeper before her body goes limp on the floor. Cara’s face glistens with evidence of Kahlan’s pleasure, and all traces of anger are gone. She’s had many lovers, but with Kahlan it’s different, it had been since that first night, when she saw her from across the room.  
  


_Aydindril Charity Ball –– Thirteen Months Earlier_

  
  
Long dark curls flowing down her back, perfect breasts threatening to pour out of that obscenely low neckline, the endless slit on her dress exposing a milky white thigh, and that beautiful smile all made Cara forget why exactly she was attending that swanky party but only for a moment. Reality crept back in so she tried to regain her focus, and she would have, had she not noticed that the leggy brunette was now standing at the end of the bar giving her an appreciative look –– only to turn away when she realized she was caught.  
  
In general, Cara was a very disciplined person, it had been drilled into her since childhood, but on that night it went out the window. “Excuse me,” Cara said, taking a seat next to her, “have we met? The way you were looking at me, I thought perhaps…”  
  
The brunette blushed a bit but quickly recovered, “I don’t think we have but ––”  
  
“Kahlan, is everything all right?” asks a man wearing a perfectly tailored black tux that stands in stark contrast to his unkempt hair.  
  
Without breaking Cara’s gaze, she replies, “Everything is perfect.” Her eyes drop down to Cara’s lips lingering there long enough to tell Cara all she needs to know.  
  
“Are you with…?” Cara trails off, pointing with her chin at the guy in the tux who had taken a place at the bar as well.  
  
“Oh no, just a colleague.”  
  
“Good,” Cara says. “Why don’t we go get some fresh air?” Her arm had already snaked around Kahlan’s waist, urging her up with a warm palm on the dip of her spine. With her lower lip between her teeth, Kahlan silently accepted the invitation.  
  
Cara picked up two glasses and a bottle of champagne as they made their way to the balcony –– her other hand still pressed against the bare skin of Kahlan’s back. On that night, Cara had nothing but gratitude for whoever invented backless dresses.  
  
By the time the bottle was empty, they had exchanged life stories –– both mostly fiction –– and were dancing to the faint sounds of the band still playing inside. Dancing led to kissing, kissing led to wandering hands, and finally to Kahlan whispering into Cara’s ear, “Come home with me.”  
  
The next morning Kahlan awoke to the sounds of her own pleasure and a shock of blonde hair between her thighs. The sight was enough to have her arching off the bed, her sex clenching around the tongue buried inside her. She came in low grunts and moans, wishing she had a name to cry out. That was their first date.  
  
For the next six months, they were inseparable; Cara pretty much took up residence in Kahlan’s bed. They’d both bought into each other’s bogus versions of their careers so they’d go off to work –– Cara’s schedule being much more flexible than Kahlan’s –– and then come home to romantic dinners that consisted mostly of Chinese take-out –– they were both horrible cooks –– followed by hours of great sex.  
  
Cara could not recall having ever woken up to find the same woman lying next to her on more than two consecutive mornings, three tops. This thing with Kahlan terrified her but those few minutes every morning when Kahlan, along with the rest of world, were still asleep, and the only sound in the entire universe was the steady rhythm of Kahlan’s breath, made her happier than she’d ever thought possible. It was the most beautiful sound in the world.

  
***

  
It was Richard, Kahlan’s colleague who wore the tux the night they’d met, that wrecked the entire thing. He and Kahlan had been friends since their days at the academy and when they were assigned to the same task force, Richard thought he’d finally get a shot at his dream girl.  
  
When Cara came into the picture his hopes were dashed. Kahlan was happier than ever so he decided to bow out gracefully. Still, something about the blonde didn’t sit well with him; it gnawed at him constantly. He’d seen her before, he was certain of it, but he couldn’t quite place her.  
      
It was pure luck that while going over surveillance footage, he caught a glimpse of her walking out of Rahl Enterprises. Investigating Cara became his number one priority but finding information about her was impossible; it was as if she’d never existed which only served to confirm his suspicions that she was trouble.  
  
His perseverance paid off when one of his contacts at the NSA identified her as one of Rahl’s girls, Mord’Sith he called them, after some ancient order of female assassins –– Rahl loved all that medieval lore from the old Midlands. Much to his surprise, she also happened to be a milk carton kid, missing since she was nine. He knew he had to go to Kahlan with this, but he also knew it would break her heart. Kahlan was in love.  
  
“We need to talk,” he said, having walked into Kahlan’s office without bothering to knock, and closing the door behind him. “It’s about your girlfriend.”  
  
“What about her?” Kahlan didn’t take kindly to anyone meddling in her personal life, especially someone who’d been carrying a torch for her since the beginning of time.  
  
“She’s not who you think she is, Kahlan. I’ve been looking into her past and ––”    
  
Before he could finish, she was on her feet and ready to throttle him. “Wait, you’ve been digging up dirt on Cara behind my back?”  
  
“I was worried. You know how much you mean to me, Kahlan.”  
  
“Get out. Now,” she said, “and stay away from Cara.” Whatever he had to say, she didn’t want to hear it, least of all from him.

  
***

      
“I love you, Cara,” she said, lying in bed with Cara nuzzled in her neck. “You know there’s nothing in the world that could ever change that, right?”  
  
“And I love you.” Cara showed her love for her in everything she did but she didn’t say the words very often. As always, it earned her a deep passionate kiss. “I haven’t talked to you about it, but I’m making changes in my life for you, for us,” she said when they broke the kiss.  
  
“Cara, you can tell me anything.” Cara nodded but didn’t say a word.

  
***

  
Two nights later the truth would come out. Richard’s contact at the NSA sent word that Rahl was on the move. The details were fuzzy, something about one of his own people getting the drop on him, someone smart and fast, and with enough information to bring him down. All they knew was that it was happening at the Rahl Enterprises’ headquarters and it was going to be big.  
  
It wasn’t Kahlan’s case, she wasn’t even supposed to be there; Richard was heading the organized crime task force. She was working on busting a human trafficking ring operating out of the northern territories. That’s why she’d been at that swanky party, the one where she’d met Cara. Still, something kept telling her she needed to be there. Experience having taught her countless times to always go with her gut, she took the ride to Rahl Enterprises’ headquarters. The place was crawling with agents, and as was always the case with anything involving Darken Rahl, the orders were shoot to kill. Out of professional courtesy, Kahlan checked in with Richard; things between them were still tense. The place was eerily quiet, almost too quiet.  
  
“Richard, something seems off here, I can feel it,” Kahlan said.  
  
“I’ve got it covered, Kahlan, I know how to do my job.” The moment he said it all hell broke loose. An explosion blew up the entire east wall of the building. Complete chaos ensued; it was clear that Richard hadn’t considered the possibility of a trap. The tallest building in all of Aydindril was crumbling to pieces. The sound of sirens coming from every direction only added to the confusion. Both agents and civilians were down. Kahlan was assisting a pedestrian struck by debris when, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a figure clad in black leather from head to toe, scaling down the north side of the building.  
  
Kahlan drew her weapon and ran past the mayhem, rounding the corner just as the suspect hit the ground. “Put your hands above your head,” Kahlan said to the masked figure standing before her. The suspect complied but when Kahlan reached for her cuffs, it became a footrace. “Stop or I’ll shoot,” Kahlan warned. When the suspect spun around suddenly, Kahlan dropped to one knee and discharged her weapon. She didn’t shoot to kill but she made sure the suspect would stay down.  
  
With her gun still drawn, she swiftly made her way to the body sprawled on the ground. “Don’t move,” she said, searching for a gun, only to realize that the assailant’s weapon had remained in its holster. Kahlan cuffed the suspect and removed the ski mask. The sight of mussed blonde hair and familiar green eyes rendered her speechless. It felt like a sledgehammer to her chest. “Cara,” she finally said, in complete disbelief.  
  
Kahlan was dumbfounded, practically in shock. It was the blood that snapped her out of it, Cara’s blood, pouring out of the gunshot wound Kahlan inflicted. Instinct kicked in and she was at Cara’s side. “So I guess you’re not a legal secretary,” Cara said through gritted teeth.  
  
“I have to get you to a hospital.” Kahlan reached for her cell phone but Cara weakly grabbed her wrist, shaking her head as she looked up at Kahlan with those beautiful eyes. “Cara, you’ll bleed to death.”  
  
“It was a clean shot, Kahlan. I just need it stitched up. I have a guy ––”  
  
“You ‘have a guy’? Are you out of your mind?” Before she said another word, a squad car pulled up next to them. Kahlan quickly flashed her badge and the officer helped her get Cara into the patrol car. Kahlan swallowed hard at the sight of her hands, dripping with Cara’s blood. They were back on the east side of the building when Kahlan caught a glimpse of a familiar face. A medic whose life she’d saved not once but twice, was tending to victims on the scene.  
  
“Jake, I’ve got a bleeder here. I need your help.” The tall blonde medic turned toward the direction of the voice that called out his name, only to find an old friend looking back at him. He waved over another paramedic to take over and, in a flash, was at Kahlan’s side.  
  
“K, this is a gunshot wound,” he said as he worked to stop the bleeding.  
  
“Lucky for me that I ran into an old friend who’ll be discreet.” She rested her hand on his shoulder –– the look in her eyes, a silent plea.  
  
“It never happened,” he said without hesitation. Within minutes, he had Cara stitched up and bandaged. Kahlan pulled him into a tight embrace, silently thanking the Creator for sending her a miracle.  
  
The blood loss left Cara too weak to talk, and Kahlan too worried to be angry at her. As soon as they walked into the apartment she cleaned Cara up as best as she could and got her into bed. For the next two days, she watched over her as she slept. Seeing her like that, pale and weak from the blood loss, made her unspeakably sad. But knowing that Cara had lied to her made her feel like a fool. It was on the third day that Cara was finally strong enough to get out of bed.  
  
Kahlan leaned against the doorway, watching her, the beautiful, vibrant woman who swept her off her feet, who at that moment seemed so frail, small even. Not a word had passed between them since the shooting but that was about to change.  
  
“I should have known you were too good to be true,” Kahlan said, every word dripping with bitterness. “The girl of my dreams blew up a building, leaving a trail of devastation and mayhem.”     
      
“You think I did that?” Cara asked, grimacing with every step she took as she attempted to close the space between them.  
  
Unable to fight the impulse, Kahlan rushed to her side, and with an arm around her waist, helped her onto the sofa. “What am I supposed to think, Cara? I saw you with my own eyes.”  
  
Cara shook her head and glared at her. “I don’t know what you think you saw but I didn’t blow up the building. The building tried to blow me up.”  
   
“Mm, so I should believe you instead of, what, my lying eyes? My feelings for you may have clouded my judgment for a moment but not anymore,” she said.  
  
“So what now?” Cara asked. “Are you going to take me in without listening to my side of the story?”  
  
With a sigh and a dismissive wave of her hand, Kahlan said, “By all means, tell your story.”  
  
And that is what she did –– or at least tried to do. Cara had been working for Rahl for most of her life. She’d been abducted and sold into child labor when she was only nine years old. Her career began at a sweatshop staffed solely by little girls whose small hands allowed them to easily assemble semiautomatic weapons, which were then sold on the black market to terrorist organizations. The girls worked eighteen-hour days, ate one meal, and slept on the floor underneath their respective workstations: it made Cara strong.  
  
Within six months she was training the new girls. Impressed by her performance, the higher-ups soon took notice and placed her in a specialized training program; she was the youngest ever selected. While most of the girls were disposable, tossed out once their hands grew too large or, if sufficiently pleasing to the eye, sold as sex slaves, every now and then one of them showed potential: Cara fell into that category.  
  
The specialized training program involved weapons training, foreign language classes, advance computer education, martial arts, etiquette and, most significantly, brainwashing. When necessary, Rahl even resorted to torture, for he had invested in these girls and he was going to get a return on that investment even if it were by way of bloodshed. Darken Rahl made it clear to them that they were nothing without him. Their families had abandoned them, they ate only because he fed them, they slept because he allowed it, they had clothes on their backs because he provided them. In return, they pledged absolute devotion and loyalty to him.  
  
“I was Rahl’s pride and joy,” Cara said. It was true, she was the best and rose to the top quicker than anyone before or after her: living proof that the system worked. With her running operations, he was able to focus his attention on extending his reach into more nefarious areas. Every major politician in the Midlands answered to him and he was actively gaining control of foreign dignitaries as well. It was Cara who made it all possible. “As Director of Operations, it was my ––” she started to explain but Kahlan cut her off.  
  
“Cara, you need to stop talking. Now,” Kahlan said, and stalked into the bedroom. When she came back she tossed a pair of jeans and t-shirt on the sofa next to Cara and dropped Cara’s duffel bag by the coffee table.  
  
Cara furrowed her brow, and tilted her head. “Kahlan, I …”  
  
Kahlan covered her face with her hands for a few seconds. “Stop talking,” she said, with tears already streaking her cheeks. “You are an organized crime member about to make incriminating statements to a federal investigator.”  
  
Cara started to say something but Kahlan lifted her hand motioning for her to stop. “I am so angry at you, but I’m also in love with you. Don’t make me have to be the person who sends you to prison.”  
  
Without saying a word, Cara got dressed and picked up her bag. Kahlan did her best to fight back tears but couldn’t manage it. Before walking out she kissed Kahlan’s forehead and told her she loved her. Kahlan could not bring herself to look at her.  
  
“Don’t come back until you’re not a criminal anymore.” Kahlan’s anger faded moments after she closed the door, only to be replaced by what felt as if her heart had been torn out of her chest.  
  
Kahlan called in sick to work and for days did nothing but cry. For as much as she’d fought the urge to do it, after a week, she called Cara’s cell only to find that it was no longer in service. As a last resort, she sent Cara an email telling her she wasn’t angry anymore, that she wanted her to come home, that they’d figure it out together. But her message bounced back a second later, stating that the email address was invalid.

  
***

  
What Kahlan didn’t give Cara a chance to explain was that she was not directly involved or even aware of some of Rahl’s darker business practices. She was, however, very much his enabler. Cara ran the legitimate end of the business so deftly that Darken Rahl could pursue his insatiable quest for power with complete confidence that the coffers would be full and that that which was his would remain so. Because even when Cara found herself conflicted by his orders, loyalty won out. Until, of course, she saw something she could not abide by.  
  
It was a simple clerical error that changed everything. Rahl’s new assistant added Cara to an email distribution list on which she should not have been. The email was recalled within seconds, but not before Cara opened it and caught a glimpse of one word, Stowecroft, the tiny town in which she was born. Stowecroft had burned to the ground during one of Rahl’s many turf wars years ago. Geographically speaking, Stowecroft was the perfect location for human trafficking. It was a border town, separated from one of the poorest and most politically corrupt countries in the world by a low mountain range.  
  
Rumors about Rahl’s involvement in human trafficking surfaced years ago, when Cara was still coming up in the ranks. Rahl had even been the subject of an investigation by the NSA but he was cleared of all suspicion. The charges against him were serious and, more than likely, would have put him away for life. The NSA claimed that the girls who worked for him were brainwashed and tortured into thinking they’d been abandoned or sold by their parents, that they weren’t loved or wanted or even missed, that to their real families they were worthless and disposable, but that at Rahl Enterprise they mattered –– as long as they followed orders.  
  
That email weighed heavily on Cara throughout the day. She went home to Kahlan, wanting nothing more than to hold her in her arms and push away all the thoughts spinning in her head. She was tempted to tell Kahlan everything but how could she? Telling her girlfriend ~the legal assistant~ that she was involved in organized crime and had lied to her for months wasn’t exactly easy. The thought of losing Kahlan, the one person in this world with whom she had ever shared anything real and meaningful, was more than she could bear.  
  
Noticing that Cara seemed distant, Kahlan nuzzled into the crook of her neck, and asked, “What is it, love?”  
  
“Tired.” She closed her eyes for a few seconds taking in the scent of Kahlan’s hair. “I’m going to shower.” She pulled away just enough to kiss Kahlan’s lips, and headed for the bathroom. “I love you,” she turned around and said, with her brow tightly kneaded and her lips in a straight line. It was as if, with those three words alone, she wanted to give Kahlan the entire world, if only for a moment.  
      
At first she opted for cold water, hoping the shock would quiet her thoughts. When that didn’t work, she turned the knob in the opposite direction, using the stinging pain of the scalding hot water pummeling her back to temper her emotions.  
  
“Baby,” Kahlan said, when she slipped into the shower behind her, “you’re hurting yourself.”  
  
Kahlan’s voice snapped her out of her reverie, and she quickly turned down the temperature of the water. “I…didn’t notice it got so hot,” Cara said.  
  
“I’m not sure what’s bothering you but I’m going to make it go away,” Kahlan said, pressing her front to Cara’s back, and kissing her neck and her shoulder blades and the long scar along her spine. “You’re so beautiful,” she murmured into Cara’s ear.  
  
“No, you are,” Cara said, turning around so their breasts were pressed together. Kahlan lowered her head just enough to take one of Cara’s nipples in her mouth, her tongue swirling in that way that always made Cara moan.  
  
Kahlan kissed her so hard, it left them both breathless. “I love you so much,” Kahlan said, sliding her hand between them, down Cara’s belly and beyond. She rubbed tight, little circles on Cara’s clit, and then slipped three sure fingers inside her, setting a familiar rhythm that never failed to send Cara over the edge. “Come for me, love. Please,” she said with her lips pressed to the shell of Cara’s ear. Cara rode her hand to two consecutive orgasms, shattering in Kahlan’s arms, all the while crying out her name like a mantra.  
  
Sleep came easily for the both of them but it didn’t last. Cara, the soundest sleeper with whom Kahlan had ever shared her bed, tossed and turned, mumbling incoherently, and at times even crying in her sleep. Kahlan thought to wake her but feared it would make matters worse. Instead, she held Cara in her arms and, throughout the night, whispered her love into Cara’s ear.  
  
It had been years since Cara had a dream, or in this case a nightmare. She was plagued with images of her younger self being taken from what she recognized as her childhood home. In the dream, she saw her father running barefooted down the street, calling out her name –– her father, who according to Darken Rahl, traded her for a few pieces of gold. Was it a dream, or suppressed memories surfacing after years of being buried in her subconscious by torture and brainwashing? It wasn’t a question she was able to answer but she intended to follow the email trail until she found the truth.  
  
The next morning, she kissed Kahlan’s forehead gently enough to keep from disturbing her sleep, and headed to Rahl Enterprises. From the privacy of her office, she hacked into various servers on the network, surreptitiously uploading files onto a cloud account that would not be traced to her. She then deployed a DoS attack that created sufficient mayhem to allow her plenty of time to cover her tracks. Later that night, as Kahlan slept, she used a program she’d written years earlier to decrypt the files. Knowing the process would take hours, she left her computer running but locked the screen.  
  
“Finally,” Kahlan said, when she felt Cara slip into bed next to her. Cara curled into her arms and closed her eyes but did not sleep.  
  
Kahlan woke to find Cara propped on an elbow staring at her. “Hi,” she said, tracing Cara’s jawline with her fingertips. “You can’t look at me that way and expect to get out of this bed without making love to me.”  
  
Cara gave her a wicked a smile and licked her lips. “I wouldn’t think of it.” With that, she pulled the covers off Kahlan and shifted their positions so that Kahlan was straddling her hips. “Mm, you’re so warm and wet for me already.”  
  
“What did you expect?” Kahlan asked. “Do you have any idea how sexy you are?”  
  
Kahlan soon found herself straddling Cara’s mouth. With both her palms pressed to the wall, she rocked her hips, grinding into Cara’s face. “Fuck, baby, don’t stop.” Cara had no intention of stopping. “More, just a little more.” She came hard in Cara’s mouth seconds later, collapsing backwards, with her knees at either side of Cara’s hips. Cara closed her eyes, savoring the taste of Kahlan and taking in her scent. Certain nothing could ever surpass that moment, she would have liked nothing more than to have the ability to stop time, even if only for a few hours.  
  
After Kahlan left for work, Cara walked into the den and sat in front of her computer, staring at the blank screen. It occurred to her that perhaps she was better off not knowing. Maybe she’d made too much out of the email, maybe it was in her own best interest to delete the files and forget all about them. But releasing a sigh, she shook off those thoughts. While she’d done things in her life she wasn’t proud of, not once had she taken the coward’s way out and she wasn’t about to start now.  
  
Cara unlocked her computer screen and, as expected, the files in question were decrypted. She could not help but marvel at the irony: it was thanks to Rahl that she had the necessary skills to do it. What she found in those files was far worse than what she could have ever imagined.  
  
The first file she opened contained training logs with graphic details of the torture to which hundreds of little girls were subjected. There were pictures attached to each entry, some of the faces were familiar ones. These girls weren’t as lucky as Cara. They didn’t show as much potential, they weren’t as fast or as strong or as smart, they didn’t receive an elite education.  
  
She sat there all day, taking in the details of Rahl’s human trafficking operation, enraged by the sadistic pleasure he took in it. Hours of sound recordings in which his voice could be clearly heard, giving orders to his lackeys, taunting the girls as they were beaten. This wasn’t business for him, this was pure pleasure. The last file she opened contained picture after picture of milk carton kids with detailed notes describing their abductions. Cara took in every detail of them, sweet little girls with beautiful smiles, who had been torn from their families. It was when she saw her own face looking back at her on the screen, and read the details of her own abduction, that she decided she was going to make Rahl pay.  
  
Her first instinct was to take him out. She was the one person at Rahl Enterprises who had sufficient access to walk into his office without being frisked or scanned for a weapon; Rahl trusted her implicitly. It was her relationship with Kahlan that made her choose to do things differently. Killing Rahl would make her a target for the rest of her life. She knew they would never succeed but the attempts would never stop coming. Even if she’d agree to it, it wasn’t the kind of life Kahlan deserved. She decided to play it straight.  
  
She’d gather all the necessary evidence and take it to the NSA agent who had worked Rahl’s case years ago. Incriminating herself was unavoidable, but Rahl was the prize; she was sure they’d cut her a deal. For weeks she pored over all of the information in those files she’d uploaded, along with collecting financial records and names of business associates she’d linked to Rahl’s trafficking operation. Cara built as airtight a case against Rahl as any top prosecutor would have, or perhaps even better.  
  
When she’d organized everything into what she felt was a coherent presentation, she purchased a disposable mobile phone and made the call. For weeks, she leaked enough information to him to prove that she was on the level. He finally agreed to her terms. A meeting was set up at a remote location, a motel a hundred miles outside of Aydindril. Only Cara wasn’t in the room as the NSA guy expected, she was on a rooftop across the street, looking through the scope of a high-powered rifle. If this was a trap, she wasn’t about to walk into it. When she was satisfied that he was alone, she called him and told him she’d be there in three minutes. For six hours, she went over the pile of evidence she’d gathered, carefully gauging his reactions but the guy was good: he gave nothing away.  
  
“We’ll be in touch,” he said, walking out of the room.  
  
Three days later she got the call. The NSA agent told her that there was one key piece of information missing. Intelligence he’d gathered when he originally worked the case had shown that Rahl had a powerful accomplice. Rahl kept incriminating evidence against this other person in a vault at Rahl Enterprises’ headquarters; if Cara were to receive immunity, she had to secure that evidence. By then she was in too deep to back out. She had no choice but to plan a break-in and get into the vault; even she didn’t have clearance to go into it unaccompanied.  
  
Every aspect of her plan was executed to perfection. She altered the security camera feeds so that they displayed the correct time stamp over old footage, and as an added precaution, she changed the entry codes to that part of the building. The vault was only accessible via a private elevator which opened with her building access pass.  
  
It took Cara less than three minutes to get into the vault. Finding the small black box the NSA guy described took her twice as long but she did it. Without wasting any time, she headed toward the elevator on the east side of the building, but out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of something outside the window that caused her to stop dead in her tracks. “Fuck,” she mumbled when she pressed her face against the glass, realizing that the place was crawling with cops. Without hesitation, she took off in a full sprint, that’s when she heard the explosion that blew up the entire east side of the Rahl’s building. With every step she felt the world around her shake. Looking back over her shoulder, she realized the explosion originated from the elevator on the east side, the very elevator she would have been in had she not noticed the cops.  
  
From that moment on she was operating on pure instinct. The north end of the building was her best option for getting out of there alive. She broke a window and scaled down the wall at lightning speed. The moment she hit the ground, she heard Kahlan’s voice, instructing her to put her hands above her head. In a moment of combined panic and shame, she decided to make a run for it, but turned back to look at her one last time. Kahlan’s marksmanship, however, was impeccable. That moment of weakness sealed Cara’s fate.

  
***

  
She was completely lost after Kahlan kicked her out. Rahl, and now Kahlan, were all she’d ever known. For days, she drove for miles with no particular destination in mind, sleeping in her car, rarely bothering to eat. She had enough cash and hidden assets to leave the Midlands and never turn back, but Kahlan’s last words to her echoed in her head constantly. ‘Don’t come back until you’re not a criminal anymore,’ she’d said. Those words were Cara’s one ray of hope. All she had to do was find a way to not be a criminal. Plenty of people weren’t criminals. How hard could it be?  
  
She still had the black box she’d retrieved from the vault, and the NSA guy in her corner. Unwilling to wait for him to contact her, Cara shut out all the noise in her head, and focused on tracking him down. His voicemail box was full but she still had two things to go on: his face and the license plate number on his car ––– she’d made a point of memorizing it when she’d watched him pull into the motel parking lot.  
  
A DMV searched proved to be a dead end. No vehicle in their database matched the plate number. She theorized that these guys probably swapped plates often to protect their identity. Still, after almost two weeks without hearing from him, she took a step back, replaying this whole mess in her mind. It occurred to her that her eagerness to hold on to Kahlan, and to bring down Rahl, had clouded her judgment.  
  
That initial meeting at the motel, it had been too easy. He hadn’t brought any backup, she was certain of it, he hadn’t asked any questions, or even requested supporting physical evidence as a show of good faith. Under different circumstances, a thousand bells would have gone off in her head. She had been too emotionally invested to notice that it didn’t add up. Even her hasty decision to comply with his request that she break into the vault, examined from a new vantage point, was a huge lapse in judgment.  
  
That she didn’t take the east elevator was sheer luck. That bomb was meant for her, and for whatever was in that black box. “Son of a bitch, he set me up.” In a flash, she cracked open the box and found a lone external drive in it. Fortunately, her laptop was among the items Kahlan had tossed into her duffel bag. She powered it up and plugged in the drive. One tap on the touchpad revealed dozens of files –– it hadn’t even been encrypted, such was Rahl’s arrogance.  
  
What she found in them was evidence that the NSA agent was in Rahl’s pocket. That was why the original investigation had been unsuccessful: Darken Rahl bought his freedom. The files contained taped conversations incriminating the agent, as well as photographs, and detailed records of financial transactions. The content of the black box was Rahl’s insurance policy, but also a looming threat over the NSA guy’s head.  
  
One of the conversations on the recordings was between the NSA guy and Special Agent Cypher, Kahlan’s inept boyfriend. He’d reached out to his old pal in an effort to dig up dirt on Cara, but inadvertently, he’d been keeping Rahl one step ahead of the feds’ ongoing investigation. In the end, Cara’s eagerness to do the right thing had led her straight into a trap.  
  
This wasn’t just about getting Kahlan back any more, it was about keeping them both alive. The NSA agent, whose name she’d learned was Chase Brandstone, had to know that she’d survived the explosion and that she had the black box. Thanks to Cypher, he also knew of Cara’s involvement with Kahlan. That made her a target as well. Cara decided to put as much distance between her and Kahlan as possible.  
  
The next few months were spent figuring out how to make things right. She had traveled back to Stowecroft in the hopes of gathering more evidence against Rahl, but also for closure. Over the years, there had been so many times she’d found herself consumed with hatred toward her father, only to learn that she had believed a lie. Standing outside what was her childhood home, which was in shambles as was the rest of the town, it all came back to her, every detail of her childhood. Her mother, her sister, and most of all her father, they had loved her, and Darken Rahl tore her away from them.  
  
“You the Mason girl that went missing, ain’t ya?” said an elderly man who was walking by. “Ain’t nobody could ever forget those eyes.”  
  
Cara swallowed hard, unable to form words for several seconds. “Yes,” she said, acknowledging it aloud for the first time. “My…my family?” she asked, her eyes glistening on the verge of tears.  
  
“Everybody done left here but me. I remember the day they took ya,” he said, shaking his head. “Worse day this town ever known.” He squinted, as if trying to reach back in time to find something that had been lost long ago. “You got your mama’s good looks, too,” he said. “They was good people, your folks. Your sister, she comes back now and then to see me. Gots two kids.”    
  
“Do you know how I can reach her?” Cara asked.  
  
“I sure don’t but if you leaves me a number, I’ll gives it to her,” he said. “Sure glad ya ain’t dead,” he said, after she handed him a piece of paper with a phone number on it. All Cara could manage by way of reply was a nod. She leaned against her car door watching the one person in this world who knew who she had once been disappear into a well-maintained, tiny house with a perfectly manicured lawn. “Welcome to Stowecroft: We Take Care of Our Own,” read the sign above his door. Cara remembered it as the town motto she’d been taught as a child.  
  
That night Cara sat in her hotel room and cried for more reasons than she could count. Maybe someday that call from her sister would come, or maybe it wouldn’t. That one person in this world remembered who she had once been was enough. She stayed up the whole night looking through all the evidence she had gathered and decided that it was time to go back to Aydindril. She was still a criminal so there was a good chance Kahlan would send her away again, but even if it was just for a few minutes, she needed to go back to the one place that felt like home: Kahlan’s arms.

  
_Kahlan’s Apartment –– present day_   


  
  
“Don’t ever leave me again,” Kahlan breathes out as she comes down from her orgasm. “And thank you for not being a criminal anymore.” The smile on her face, the picture of contentment.  
  
Grimacing for a second, Cara takes a deep breath and says, “Yeah, about that…”  
  
“Cara,” Kahlan says, springing up from the floor in a way that causes her breasts to bounce about hypnotically.  
  
It takes Cara several blinks to snap out of the breast trance. “Are you going to kick me out again?” She’d resigned herself to that possibility before she’d left Stowecroft, but now that Kahlan is back in her arms, she’s certain it would kill her.  
  
“No, I am not. I’ve been miserable and pathetic without you. I slept with Richard, for Spirits’ sake.” She contorted her face into a look that clearly illustrated how repugnant the experience had been. “And I’m still madly in love you. Now tell me everything.”  
  
This time she allows Cara to tell her the entire story. They spend the rest of the night going over all of the evidence Cara had compiled. Having worked in the human trafficking division for over two years, Kahlan thought she’d seen it all, but this was by far the worse she’d ever heard. The picture of Cara on a milk carton brought her to tears. “I’m so sorry,” Kahlan says, kissing her cheek and her lips and her forehead.  
  
Cara furrowed her brow. “Why are you sorry? None of this is your fault.”  
  
“I’m sorry I got so angry at you, and I’m sorry I made you leave, and most of all I’m so sorry for everything you went though as a little girl, but I’m going to fix it.” The way she says it leaves no room for doubt.  
      
“You can do that?” Cara asked. “Without me going to prison?”  
  
“As of last Thursday, I can. I got a promotion, I’m the head the human trafficking division. Oh, and my little sister is a federal judge.” She shrugs and kisses the tip of Cara’s nose.  
  
“Do you have any idea how turned on I am right now?” Cara says, pulling off her t-shirt and tossing it across the room.  
  
“Mm.” Kahlan takes one of Cara’s nipples between her teeth, licking it with the tip of her tongue, but quickly releases it, earning herself a disapproving grunt from Cara.  
  
“However, I have conditions,” Kahlan says, raising her index finger, “no more secrets between us, and no criminal behavior, and I want you to marry me, and I want babies –– lots of them, and one of us has to learn how to cook.”  
  
“You want to marry me?” Cara asks, with as tender a look on her face as Kahlan has ever seen.  
  
“Yes, but don’t move a muscle,” she says, reaching for her phone. “Richard, you’re an idiot.”  
  
Before he can say a word, she hangs up the phone on him. Turning back toward Cara she asks, “Where were we?” Cara points between her own breasts several times and tips her head. “Ah, yes, how could I forget?” she says and promptly returns her attention to Cara’s breasts.  
  
  
 _Fin_  
  
  
  



End file.
